John 21, Peter, & the Pope

Category: Articles,Doctrine,Roman Catholicism
Author: John Malone
Date: 16th May, 2005 @ 11:34:48 AM


Papal Dress and Relics
“Wearing golden vestments and clutching his pastoral staff, Benedict began the ceremony by walking into the area under St. Peter’s Basilica where St. Peter is believed to be buried, paying homage to the first pope and blessing the tomb with incense as a choir chanted.”

Misusing the Memory of Peter
“In one of the most symbolic moments of the two-hour Mass, Benedict was given his Fisherman’s Ring and a woolen pallium or shawl — both symbols of his papal authority. The ring is emblazoned with an image of Peter casting his fishing nets and was traditionally used to seal apostolic letters.”

Associated Press, Sunday, April 24th
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It’s likely I would never discuss the Pope if he did not claim to be Christian.

But the Papacy and Vatican is what it is – emblematic if not identical to the {mother of all whores|Rev 17:5} pictured in Revelation – because of those claims, and the disgusting and parading nonsense as described above.

In fact, when it comes to Rome itself – the so-called “eternal city” that sits on seven hills – The Roman Catholic Organization (RCO) has an interesting irony placed upon it. There is no Biblical evidence the apostle Peter was ever in Rome Historically, the passage that yields the conclusion is an intering one: Peter’s {greetings from “Babylon”|1Pe 5:13} in his first epistle.

(The ONLY reason any Bible students think Peter may have been in Rome – let alone functioning as an elder there – is that “Babylon” may be “code” for Rome. I personally do not agree with that interpretation, holding instead that “Babylon” in 1 Peter means the literal city in what is now Iraq.)

But if Peter’s greeting DID encode Rome with the word “Babylon,” it would be Scriptural indicator that Rome is the subsequently prophesied mother whore. That she sits on {seven mountains or hills (greek = “oro”)|Rev 17:9}, and that Rome (among others cities, including: Jerusalem, Jericho, Babylon, Washington D.C, Istanbul, Lisbon, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, and Pretoria to name ten) is world famous as that very city is nearly indisputable.

But we are not prepared to declare the RCO as the full bloom of Revelation’s mother whore, but merely the nearest thing to it in mystery form during ths present dispensation. We suspect that a combined religious system featuring spiritism – and comprehending Islam, at least – will arise on the scene in conjunction with the polictical and economic system of the beast of Revelation.

Even those who hold that the {beast|Rev 17:7} of Revelation “that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns” is a latter times “revival” of the Roman Empire must take into account that the full bloom of that empire was not merely Western in scope, but became divided with a dual capital headquartered in Instanbul (see above). Therefore, in the time of the end, a factor must unify the breech now evident between a post-modern Christianized West, and an Islamic dominated Middle East.

Insofar as the “woman/whore” pictured in Revelation 17 {“sits on many waters”|Rev 17:15} – told to us to represent many people, nations and tongues – then we infer her to be an agent of assemblage: a packager together of disparate people. It was the Babylonian system of Nimrod that brought together all people against God through the invention of a {religious system|Gen 11:1-4}, thus making plausible his goal of a city, and a name, by bulding a tower that replaced the commands of God.

The RCO is historically world famous for it’s attempt to build the “City of God” on earth. In fact, the reason you will see the Pope have two fingers raised on his hand when he extends it is that one is for “spiritual authority” and the other is for “temporal authority.”

But for now, let me focus in on the two paragraphs above.

Popes have ever been known for their fine – if strange – raiment. Their “vestments” including the commonly seen mitre hats, and more uncommonly seen “triple crowns” are all targeted to cast a mysterious scene around the wearer in order to produce irregular high esteem. Of course NONE of this has any reference to the apostles, especially Peter.

After all, it was Peter, who, after he told the other apostles {“I go a fishing”|Jo 21:3}, when he knew the Lord Jesus to be on the shore, put on his {fisher’s coat|Jo 21:7} jumped into the sea, and swam to shore, having, of course, abandoned the ship and the fish.

No fine vestments and mitre hat there!

And the Apostle Paul, also establishing “apostolic tradition,” criticized the Corinthiam church for what must be considered a slight hint of “Papal behavior.” His {strong criticism|1Cor 4:8-13} was that the Corinthians acted as if they were reigning in this world before the time of the Lord Jesus’ return, while the apostle’s were suffering the designated indignities classed as the {sufferings|Phi 3:10} for Christ.

Another feature of Papal behavior that is strangely hostile to Bible Christianity is the affinity to “holy places” and dead people. This affinity and practice is throughout all of Roman Catholicism, despite its antagonism to the Scriptures. It is a little known fact, for instance, that the heinous Roman Catholic Mass -itself a blasphemy of both the Person and work fo the Lord Jesus Christ – is performed on “altars” conatining relics of dead people classed as “saints” by the RCO.

Even the casual reader of the Bible can discern that Romanism is not Biblical Christianity.


© John Malone, 2007